🏁 Up next
Belgium
FP17d 18h
Adrian Newey said it was an “incredibly special moment” to drive Red Bull’s RB17 hypercar up the hill for the first time at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Newey said: "It's an incredibly special moment. It's been a very long time in the planning. I think I did my very first sketch for the car over Christmas in 2021, but it's been a long time in gestation. The guys – everybody, the guys and girls back at the factory – have done a really amazing [job] to get it here. Yeah, it's really special to have the car here and to drive up the hill for the first time."
Charles Leclerc and Ferrari have completed the first laps of Madrid’s new Madring circuit in a Formula 1 car, running the SF-26 during a filming session on Thursday. Ferrari shared images and video from the outing, with Leclerc first on track and team-mate Lewis Hamilton also set to complete laps. The running was carried out under standard filming day limits, including restricted mileage and the use of promotional Pirelli tyres, ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix at the venue on September 11-13.
Martin Brundle says Formula 1 should change its safety-car unlapping procedures to avoid late-race “teases” like at last weekend’s British Grand Prix, when a software error briefly suggested the Safety Car was ending on the penultimate lap. Brundle said: "There are potential fixes. In IndyCar for example, if it's within the last 10 laps, instead of a wave-by the lapped cars are made to peel off into the pit lane and rejoin at the back of the field. Or we could simply have the lapped runners drop behind the pack. Or throw a red flag and have a standing restart in race order, although this takes a while. Instead, we prioritise runners who haven't been good enough, for whatever reason, on the day, instead of the leaders and most importantly the fans."
Lance Stroll says Aston Martin’s AMR26 is “very broken” aerodynamically and that its unpredictable handling made it difficult to stay within track limits at the British Grand Prix, where he picked up three five-second penalties. Stroll said: "Maybe, I guess [the penalties were fair]. We had a lot of understeer in the race and the car's very broken, so it's even hard to stay within the track limits. A lot of different behaviour every lap, every corner. No, just aerodynamically very broken."
George Russell says suggestions Mercedes is showing favouritism towards his team-mate Kimi Antonelli are untrue and make no sense given the team’s focus on winning the Constructors’ Championship. Russell said: "I did hear on the grapevine that there is chatter about favouritism (towards Antonelli). It doesn't bother me – and nor is it true. But there are 2,000 people in the team, and they are all on a bonus if we win the Constructors' Championship, so why would there be favouritism? We are both allowed to race, unless the team's overriding aim to win the maximum points available is under threat."
George Russell says it is virtually impossible for Formula 1 drivers to properly prepare for running the 2026 cars in wet conditions, with the championship heading to the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. Russell said: "You can't really plan for it because you don't know what you're dealing with. You don't know what the beast is beneath you. So you cannot prepare for it. You can do all the preparation you want, but as soon as you get out there, you just need to be flexible and be able to adapt."
McLaren IndyCar driver Pato O’Ward says he has asked Zak Brown to release him from his McLaren Formula 1 reserve role so he can prioritise his IndyCar career and get more time away from racing. On Conor Daly’s Speed Street podcast, O’Ward said he “politely asked to be fired” from his F1 duties, adding: “There’s really nothing in me that is aching to keep on as a reserve in Formula 1… I love the series [IndyCar]. That’s where I want to be.”
George Russell says a points deficit of “10 to 30 points” to Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli is “about fair” based on their performances so far, with the Briton currently 25 points behind after nine races. Russell said: "However, based on my performances and based on his performances over the course of these nine races, I think probably a 25-point gap is in his favour, is probably correct. He has done a better job than me this year to this point, so he deserves to be ahead of me. I think anywhere from 10 to 30 points behind is probably about fair."
Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane says Max Verstappen is an “almost” perfect benchmark for young drivers in the Red Bull organisation to copy, both in how he drives and how he goes about his work. Permane said: "You can't pick any holes in Max. As you say, he's almost perfect. Let's not say he's perfect, because I don't know if he is or not! But let's say he's almost the perfect driver. So it's great for us to have that benchmark, if you like."
Liam Lawson says he is not thinking about speculation linking Formula 2 leader Nikola Tsolov to his Racing Bulls seat, insisting he is focused on continuing his current form. Lawson said: "It's honestly not even something I've really thought about. So, at the moment, I'm just focused on continuing to do what we've been doing. I've been here long enough to see how things get stirred up, and it's not really something I've been thinking about."
Zhou Guanyu says he is still looking for a way back to a full-time Formula 1 seat and wants a “second chance” to prove himself, having joined Cadillac as its test and reserve driver in 2026. Zhou said: "In terms of long-term, yeah, I'm still looking for a possibility to get back here. My dream is still continuously to be in F1. Hopefully, one day I can get back and have another second shot, second chance to show what I can do."
McLaren boss Andrea Stella says Formula 1’s new technical era has shifted the “battleground” between leading teams towards development pace and immature aerodynamic concepts, with the team planning revisions to its initial car philosophy through upgrades due to arrive in Hungary. Stella said: "I think this year is much more difficult through set up to find any opportunity, because the cars are not as sensitive to ride heights as they were last year, so what is the battleground? The battleground is first of all the developments themselves. Every team is bringing upgrades... The second key battleground is the concepts from an aerodynamic point of view, are not mature yet... we have understood that we should review the concepts in some areas."
Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies says the team is exchanging data with the FIA as it challenges the governing body’s assessment that Red Bull has the best power unit under the ADUO system. Laurent Mekies said: "We are exchanging data with the FIA. So it's progressing in the way that we have had a chance to, to exchange a bit more [data] compared to last time, in terms of methodologies and, and potential discrepancies. It's fair to say that we'll have a, we'll have a catch-up next week outside of the race weekend to sit down and have a chance to look at the same set of data together."
Laurent Mekies said Red Bull believed keeping Max Verstappen’s car in parc ferme for the British Grand Prix would give a better result than changing the set-up and starting from the pit lane. Mekies said: "After qualifying, it was clear we were not very happy with the balance of the car, to say the least, and changing the set-up of the car would simply mean starting from the pit lane. We knew it wasn't going to be pleasant to go with a very imperfect balance into the race. We still felt that it would give us a better result than starting from the pit lane with perhaps something better."
Get the full feed, faster alerts, and the stories worth following on your phone.
